Inhabitots | Your guide to green parenting, eco baby & green kids

CDC Sets New Lower Lead Poisoning Levels

by Jennifer Chait, 05/17/12 filed under: eco toddler, green baby, green kids, health & body, kids health, news, toxins

Until recently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended that children be identified as having a blood lead level of concern if their blood level test results were 10 or more micrograms per deciliter of lead in blood. This week, after recommendations offered by The Advisory Committee on Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention (ACCLPP) in January 2012, the CDC has announced new, lower lead poisoning levels. The ACCLPP recommended that the CDC change its “blood lead level of concern” due to a growing number of scientific studies that show that even low blood lead levels can cause lifelong health effects. The committee recommended that the CDC should link lead levels to data from the National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey (NHANES) in order to better identify children living or staying for long periods in environments that expose them to lead hazards. The new levels are based on U.S. children ages 1‐5 years who are in the top 2.5% when tested for lead in their blood, an amount identified as 5 micrograms per deciliter of lead in blood.
READ MORE >

Gap’s New Kids Line Makes You Want to Get Up and Dance

by admin, 05/17/12 filed under: advertising

Gap is at it again, with a super cute line of children’s clothes for summer that will no doubt grace the wardrobes of our favorite celebrity babies and kids in the coming weeks. Already, there’s star power behind the collection, called Cabana, as Debbie Allen of “So You Think You Can Dance” and “Fame” stars in a Gap-produced video in which she teaches some dance students the “Cabana Cha Cha.”

What’s cool is that Gap is donating $1 for every share of the YouTube clip to the Debbie Allen Dance Academy, a non-profit organization that provides dance and theater arts programs to youth in the Los Angeles area. Not that you’ll need an extra reason to share the video with your social network, since the adorable factor is quite high.

The Cabana line features bright floral patterns and embroidered sundresses for the girls, plaid and madras for boys, and much more. It’s a perfect complement to summer fun.

Watch the Cabana Cha Cha clip now, and don’t forget to do your share and pass it along to your friends to help Gap meet its donation goals.

HOW TO: Make a DIY Cut-out Skull T-Shirt for Kids

by Desmond Williams, 05/17/12 filed under: craft, diy kids crafts, green kids, how-to, kids clothing

READ MORE >

Wee Drool’s Eco-Friendly, Designer T-bibs Are A Stylish Alternative to Typical Bibs

by Beth Shea, 05/17/12 filed under: baby feeding, eco toddler, green baby

READ MORE >

Co-sleeping May Fight Obesity Says Study from 2012 European Congress on Obesity

by Jennifer Chait, 05/17/12 filed under: green baby, green kids, news

In odd but true news, yet another perk of co-sleeping has been revealed – reduced obesity. According to a new study from Denmark, kids who co-sleep nightly are 70% less likely to be overweight as compared to kids who never sleep with their parents. The study also found that even occasional co-sleeping had benefits, as part-time co-sleepers were 50% less likely to be overweight as compared to total non-co-sleepers.

READ MORE >

Harvard Study Finds BPA Exposure May Lower IVF Success Rates

by Jennifer Chait, 05/16/12 filed under: green pregnancy, health & body, news, toxins

New research from Harvard University has found that bisphenol A (BPA) exposure may affect a woman’s ability to become pregnant while undergoing fertility treatments. Researchers studied women undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF) at the Massachusetts General Hospital Fertility Center in order to examine the relationship between BPA exposure and pregnancy success. All women were of a decent childbearing age (18-45 years), used their own eggs in the IVF procedure and most were Caucasian and non-smokers. Researchers followed this group of women through each IVF cycle until they delivered their baby or decided to stop the IVF treatment. After measuring BPA urine concentrations of the women, the researchers confirmed that women with higher BPA levels in their system were less likely to get pregnant while undergoing IVF than women with lower BPA levels. The more intense the fertility treatment, the greater the link to problems associated with BPA. In most cases, pregnancies failed because the embryos did not attach to the uterus. While this human study was small, other research with experimental animals also shows that BPA decreased embryo implantation success and reduced litter size. Clearly research like this reveals a growing trend that harmful chemicals are a major consideration if you’re attempting to become pregnant, especially since we know that most pregnant women carry a slew of chemicals in their bodies.

+ Urinary Bisphenol A Concentrations and Implantation Failure among Women Undergoing In Vitro Fertilization

Lead image by Flickr User janineomg

FDA Buckles Under Industry Pressure, Delays New Sunscreen Labeling Rules for 6 Months

by Jennifer Chait, 05/16/12 filed under: green family, health & body, news

Just as EWG released their new safe sunscreen guide the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released some sunscreen news of their own. Apparently, due to pressure from two cosmetic industry groups – the Personal Care Products Council and the Consumer Healthcare Products Association, the FDA announced on May 11 that they’ll be delaying implementation of pending sunscreen regulations. The new, now delayed regulations mandate how sunscreens are labeled and marketed, and are supposed to make it easier for consumers to chose properly labeled sunscreen. This FDA decision comes as somewhat of a shock, since the new rules were announced a year ago after an already insane 30 years of deliberations. Now, simply because trade groups can’t get their act together and because the FDA lacks the will to enforce them, the new sunscreen regulations have been pushed back all the way to December 2012. Sadly, for consumers, this means we’ve got another whole summer of misleading sunscreen labels on the market.

READ MORE >